Horror of horrors

[Lewis]

Horror of horrors: bananas may be going (close to) extinct, new study says

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/bad-news-banana-may-soon-221507852.html

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[OzSpen]

Lewis,

For much of this year, we have known this situation in Australia. See the article from ABC News, Rural (Australia): Authorities say banana disease impossible to eradicate in Queensland.

Instead, that means I'm eating more pineapple, custard apples, apricots, peaches, nectarines, grapes, etc. There are some disadvantages with the reduction of the supply of bananas. However, there are considerable health benefits in eating bananas.

(public domain)

 

[jasonc]

Odd,I have seen tons of them here.they love ditches,the dirtier the water the better they like it.tommorow I know I will have at least two homes that have them.

 

[OzSpen]

Odd,I have seen tons of them here.they love ditches,the dirtier the water the better they like it.tommorow I know I will have at least two homes that have them.

It is a disease known as Panama Tropical Race 4 (TR4). It is a pathogen that affects the root system of the banana stool and it has travelled around the world. No cure for it has been found and it is devastating banana plantations in many countries where bananas are grown commercially.

 

[jasonc]

It is a disease known as Panama Tropical Race 4 (TR4). It is a pathogen that affects the root system of the banana stool and it has travelled around the world. No cure for it has been found and it is devastating banana plantations in many countries where bananas are grown commercially.

Of course but that makes like canker then.most bananas aren't really seed producing but clones. If I want them .instead of the store I can steal a shoot.they aren't hard to find. I prefer the plankteens mixed in with the banana. Those are all around here.

 

[OzSpen]

Of course but that makes like canker then.most bananas aren't really seed producing but clones. If I want them .instead of the store I can steal a shoot.they aren't hard to find. I prefer the plankteens mixed in with the banana. Those are all around here.

I know what planktons are, but I have no idea what plankteens are.

I was raised on a sugar cane farm in SE Queensland where we also grew bananas. In fact, bananas do produce seeds that are inside the banana but that is not the means by which the common banana producers. They reproduce by planting the 'suckers' that grow up around the base of the banana. Let's see if I can find a picture of a sucker at the base of the banana tree.

There you have 2 suckers that can be separated from the banana tree and planted separately. Then, they in turn will produce suckers at the base of the banana tree.

Biosecurity Queensland (BQ) yesterday confirmed Panama disease tropical race 4 had been detected for a third time and in a different area at the Robsons’ Dingo Pocket plantation (Tully, north Qld, south of Cairns) (source).

With the Panama disease, if the main tree has it, so have the suckers. This means that you can't plant the suckers to produce regular bananas because they too are diseased. Panama disease wipes out banana plantations. It is spread through contaminated soil and there has to be some soil connected to the suckers when they are planted separately for increase in size of the plantation.

See, 'Saving the banana'.

Oz

 

[jasonc]

I have eaten plantains, but those you are worried about are for commercial use. I live in a state where we are able grow them small scale.

 

[OzSpen]

I have eaten plantains, but those you are worried about are for commercial use. I live in a state where we are able grow them small scale.

I live in a state also where we can grow banana trees small scale. In fact, I have one in my back yard. They require lots of water. That's why there are plantations of them around Tully, Qld, which gets lots and lots of tropical rain.

The plantations of bananas grow them for sale in the fruit shops here in Brisbane also. In fact, my wife and I prefer the Lady Finger variety, rather than Cavendish.

Oxford dictionaries online gives the definition of a plantain as 'A low-growing plant which typically has a rosette of leaves and a slender green flower spike, occurring widely as a weed of lawns'. Do you have a picture you can post of a plantain. I don't know what you are talking about. I know what weeds are in lawn. I've been pulling a few of them this afternoon as I mowed the lawn.

I've located this photo of a plantain. They are a member of the banana family but I don't recall ever eating them. It's banana, banana, and banana for us here in Qld.

(plantain vs bananana)

 

[jasonc]

Yes I have.I just took these.they leave them to rot and they taste better then banana if they are bred with them.View attachment 7926 View attachment 7927

 

[jasonc]

These are on the beach.4 homes had those in their yards, all but three produce.if we want back to seasons as I remember with some fruits,ie apples,citrus.I bet this genetic disease might not be a problem.

 

[turnorburn]

In grade school my second grade favorite..

 

[Roro1972]

Of course but that makes like canker then.most bananas aren't really seed producing but clones. If I want them .instead of the store I can steal a shoot.they aren't hard to find. I prefer the plankteens mixed in with the banana. Those are all around here.

plantains?

 

[Mike S]

Fried plantains.

View attachment 7928

I've never liked them.

I prefer what in Hawai'i are called apple bananas.

 

[Roro1972]

Fried plantains.

View attachment 7928

I've never liked them.

I prefer what in Hawai'i are called apple bananas.

I would never fry plantains that thick should be thinner imo

 

[Mike S]

I would never fry plantains that thick should be thinner imo

I know my Island friends like these things, but, I don't. Actually, I think there's almost nothing good to be said for fried plantains...nor poi neither for that matter.

 

[jasonc]

I know my Island friends like these things, but, I don't. Actually, I think there's almost nothing good to be said for fried plantains...nor poi neither for that matter.

A little syrup, ice cream,cookies is what they taste like.

 

[OzSpen]

Fried plantains.

View attachment 7928

I've never liked them.

I prefer what in Hawai'i are called apple bananas.

Mike,

When I was growing up on the sugar cane farm here in Queensland where we had a few stools of bananas, Mum would make banana custard which I enjoyed. It was Mum's home-cooked custard poured over sliced bananas (round slices). Mouth-watering as the memories come flooding back.

Here in Brisbane, when lady finger bananas are cheap enough (generally around $4-$5 per kg), we purchase them. We are getting them for that price now and we buy them weekly from the fruit mart.

[Photo: Lankester banana shed worker, Dot, with a hand of green Lady Finger bananas. (Charlie McKillop), ABC Rural online]

 

[Mike S]

When I was stationed on Guam in the 60s, seems like a lifetime ago, I quickly became a real fan of the local wild bananas. Their flavor just seemed so much more intense. I think the apple bananas and Lady Finger bananas are a lot like that.